PEER COMPANIES

NEW DELHI: Markets pared most of their early morning gains and were trading in range with a negative bias on Wednesday.

The BSE Auto Index slipped 0.7 per cent, followed by the BSE Consumer Durable Index which was down 0.5 per cent. The BSE FMCG Index plunged 0.3 per cent and the BSE Oil & Gas index was down 0.3 per cent.

At 10:00 a.m., the Nifty was trading 0.1 per cent higher at 5,502.85. It touched a high of 5536.40 and a low of 5488.60 in early trade today.

The BSE Sensex was trading 0.2 per cent higher or 42 points at 18268.07. Infosys (0.7 per cent), TCS (1.5 per cent) and HDFC (1.7 per cent) led the gainers pack.

"The Nifty is expected to head lower till 5400. In this period the key support will be at around 5450 and resistance will be at 5551," says Somil Mehta, Senior Tech Analyst (Equity) at Sharekhan.

"The Nifty has again faced resistance around the 20-daily moving average (DMA) and also broken the previous swing low on the weekly chart which indicates weakness in the short term," he added.

Mehta is of the view that the short-term bias for the Nifty would remain negative for a target of 5450 with reversal around 5756. The medium-term outlook would remain negative.

Here is a list of ten stocks that are in action in morning trade today:

MMTC Ltd, after the Department of Disinvestment's (DoD) plan to launch this month or in early May a 9.33 per cent stake sale in MMTC, which could fetch around Rs 300 crore to the exchequer.

At 10:00 am, MMTC was trading 2.2 per cent lower at Rs 221.50.

Coal India and NTPC will be in focus as both companies are likely to meet tomorrow to address the issues pertaining to the quality of fuel supplies as well as the power major's Rs 2,840 crore dues to the coal PSU.

At 10:00 am, Coal India was trading 0.3 per cent higher at Rs 307 and NTPC rose 0.9 per cent to Rs 142.50.

United Spirits Ltd, as the U.K.-based Diageo plc will kick off its over Rs.5,441 crore open offer to acquire an additional 26 per cent in United Spirits at an offer price of Rs 1440 per share from today. The offer will close on April 26.

At 10:00 am, United Spirits was trading 1.1 per cent lower at Rs 1771.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, after the company agreed to rework the power tariff with the Goa government, following the latter's decision to stop power purchase due to high costs.